Current status of the RT-AX88U PRO router and ZenWiFi AX

[Dymblos]

Hello

I am new here, so I also don't have much knowledge about firmware, but I recently bought this router to replace a router that I have had for more than 10 years and while reading I found many comments in other forums and reddit that when updating the firmware the router becomes unstable, understand that the connection drops a lot and the performance is slow

I just saw the Asus website and there are many firmwares available and recently I see that there are now custom firmwares

I don't know how much difference there would be between the last one available on the Asus website and the last one available from Merlin.

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Likewise, I also need to expand the network coverage and I found that I can add nodes like the ZenWiFi AX XD5 or XT8 (both within my budget) are "ideal" for what I am looking for.
but just like when I started looking for information about the firmware for this, here it was worse, comments that the connection becomes really slow, or that the connection is intermittent and in the worst case that the nodes can never connect more to the router or to each other and the only solution is to do a factory reset
The latter are comments that I found from months ago. That's why I don't know how the situation is with these ZenWiFi

I hope that someone who is up to date on these issues can give me a concrete answer so I can safely update my router and make the right decision when buying the nodes.

Thank you

 

[bbunge]

You will get many opinions on router firmware. However, your best choice, if you are not skilled in networking, is to use the manufacturers current firmware. This is because it will contain fixes to security issues and, for the most part, feature fixes/additions. From what I can gather the Asus firmware for the AX88U Pro is OK.
As for AiMesh nodes, just about any Asus current production router will work OK as an AiMesh node. Ethernet backhaul is recommended for best operation and be aware that nodes too close to the router may cause problems. In other words, too much WIFI can be a problem.
As for the second party firmware, of which Merlin is the best, I would get to know your router and WIFI with factory firmware for a while. If you do decide to try another firmware, make a settings backup of the router so you can always go back if something happens. Asus firmware is very easy to reflash and upload the former system settings.

Best of luck in your adventure!